Holiday Traditions  

Traditional Christmas Greeting: "Merry Christmas", "Christmas ke Shubhashai" (Hindi)
Location: Asian Sub Continent
Tree Type: Cultural

Decorations:

Two of the garlands are made of colored palm fronds. There is also a garland made of jute rope.
The dolls represent various regions of India.
The bows are dyed orange.
The Christmas trees are covered in green silk, colored stones and gold paint.
Traditions: Though India is not a Christian country, there are Christian communities throughout India. The main concentration is in the southern tip of the country. It is believed that St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to India.

During the weeks before Christmas, children go caroling house to house. On Christmas Eve there is usually a dance for the teenagers held at the local high school or community center. Banana and Mango trees are decorated. In some areas, small clay lamps are placed are placed on the edges of flat roofs and on the top of walls.

On Christmas Eve, Christians go for Christmas shopping and buy new clothes and shoes. It’s a tradition to attend midnight mass with new appearance to bring Christmas spirit in families and communities. Once they reach home, they celebrate Christmas by lighting fire crackers.

On Christmas Day, the family eats breakfast and afterwards the gifts are given out. The rest of Christmas Day is spent visiting family and friends. A homemade ginger wine is served on this day in some families. Special pastries (Kulkul, Laadu, Chaklyo, Nevryo, etc.) are served; these pastries are made by all the family members and are dyed red and pink. The main dish served Christmas Day is a pork dish (Vindaloo). It is served with a rice dish that contains slivered almonds and raisins. This rice is colored with saffron, which turns the rice, a subtle yellow color. A Christmas cake similar to fruitcake is served for dessert. Some families exchange Christmas cake on Christmas day along with Christmas Sweets called “Kuswaar.”

in my country have a lot of holiday traditions cause here there are several religion live with peacefull,there are Moslem,Christian Catolic,Cristian Protestant,Budhist,Hindust,for me as a Muslem the traditions holiday is in “Idul Fitri and Idul Adha festival “, when I was a kid, holidays mean is playing with my friend, eating grandma's cookies .But now when i was old, holidays have come to mean something more. I gathered with my family go to my father inlaw and stay there for a couple day and to forgive each other .

I am from china,in our country Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year throughout the west is the most important traditions holiday . Beginning the first day of the lunar year, the celebration usually lasts for weeks. Before the event, houses are thoroughly cleaned. Everyone gets a haircut and purchases new clothes. People burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and to ask the Gods for good health, peace, and luck in the coming year. Red lanterns are hung everywhere. Red scrolls with complementary poetic couplets are pasted at every gate, one line on each side of the gate. On New Year's Eve, families have a reunion feast of jiaozi (dumplings) and niangao (a kind of sticky rice cake), and then stay up and talk through the night, talking about the past and the future.
Activities include: Fireworks display, visiting and greeting family and friends, Yangge dancing, lion and dragon dancing, temple fairs, and many other celebrations of Chinese folklore. Yangge dancing originated 2,000 years ago as a religious activity to greet the Gods and dispel evil, but is now a recreational activity during the sowing season and on holidays. It is especially popular among the northern Han.

When I was young, me, my brother and our parents would set up the Christmas tree on december 24th. We'd then have our Christmas supper, which consisted of mainly fish, vegetables, bread and apetizers, but no meat. We also had to eat at least 13 different ingredients (spices were considered an ingredient) I never knew why though, guess it's one of my dad's traditions. Then, me and my brother would go to bed, and at midnight my mom would wake us up for us to go see what Santa left for us under the tree!! After we opened up our presents, we were allowed to play with them a bit, and then went to bed. Also, every year, we'd go in a mall where "Santa" was, and had our picture taken with him. Until I was about 8 yrs old, I was petrified of Santa!! My mom had to stand next to me while they took the picture! I wish i could go back to those times when my family was all together. My parents are now divorced..

I studied in a boarding school all my life from my 1st standard...so i always loved holidays(naturally all kids love holidays)Actually holidays are the time we waste the most but we love holidays....
Theree were a bunch of us from boarding and we all had our holidays together and that was even more fun.
As soon as we reched we had to first visit our grandmom and she would have all the tasty food ready for us to gobble.from theer we would go visiting to all the aunties and uncles home.
Before that we would come home and inspect what has been purchased new or what material has been replaced, ohh how i loved doin that....

holidays are always fun.the thoughts of being with your family for chrismas brings so much joy to your heart.the gifts the wonderful times its just so beautiful.

Wow so many holiday traditions!
We are a simple family: We eat dinner christmas eve night at my one aunts house and christmas day breakfast is at the other. my mother gets thanksgiving.

christmas !!!!!?????

what do you know about it.. ???
how you celebrate it..??
how do you handle it... when other people dont know how to celebrate christmas.... they knew that chirstmas is coming but they dont know how to celebrate it.. do you think that they are happy.... they singing christmas carols... they exchanging gifts...have you ever think of other people when christmas eve comes, or how they celebrate it, do you think they also have whats on your table or gifts under your chirstmas tree.....??????

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

The Origin of Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the Begining of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coodination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too old to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All agree, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese solely means "year", was originally the name of a monster beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.

One legend goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, "I hear say that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?" So, it did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harrassed people and their domestic animals from time to time.

After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.

From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Survive the Nian" becomes today "Celebrate the (New) Year" as the word "guo" in Chinese having both the meaning of "pass-over" and "observe". The custom of putting up red paper and firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian should it have a chance to run loose is still around. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration.

Traditional New Year Foods

Probably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year. Vast amounts of traditional food is prepared for family and friends, as well as those close to us who have died.

On New Year's Day, the Chinese family will eat a vegetarian dish called jai. Although the various ingredients in jai are root vegetables or fibrous vegetables, many people attribute various superstitious aspects to them.

Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness. Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.

In south China, the favorite and most typical dishes were nian gao, sweet steamed glutinous rice pudding and zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped up in reed leaves), another popular delicacy.

In the north, steamed-wheat bread (man tou) and small meat dumplings were the preferred food. The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time was meant to symbolize abundance and wealth for the household.

The 15-Day Celebration of Chinese New Year

The first day of the Lunar New Year is "the welcoming of the gods of the heavens and earth."Many people abstain from meat on the first day of the new year because it is believed that this will ensure long and happy lives for them.

On the second day, the Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods. They are extra kind to dogs and feed them well as it is believed that the second day is the birthday of all dogs.

The third and fourth days are for the sons-in-laws to pay respect to their parents-in-law.

The fifth day is called Po Woo. On that day people stay home to welcome the God of Wealth. No one visits families and friends on the fifth day because it will bring both parties bad luck.

On the sixth to the 10th day, the Chinese visit their relatives and friends freely. They also visit the temples to pray for good fortune and health.

The seventh day of the New Year is the day for farmers to display their produce. These farmers make a drink from seven types of vegetables to celebrate the occasion. The seventh day is also considered the birthday of human beings. Noodles are eaten to promote longevity and raw fish for success.

On the eighth day the Fujian people have another family reunion dinner, and at midnight they pray to Tian Gong, the God of Heaven.

The ninth day is to make offerings to the Jade Emperor.

The 10th through the 12th are days that friends and relatives should be invited for dinner. After so much rich food, on the 13th day you should have simple rice congee and mustard greens (choi sum) to cleanse the system.

The 14th day should be for preparations to celebrate the Lantern Festival which is to be held on the 15th night.

hilidays are great not even a child but people of all ages enjoy that..
when u move out with ur friends and have some fun is unforgetfull..i love holidays